Net migration and naturalÊincrease are two components of population growth. Net migration is the excess of people moving into an area over people moving out of an area, and natural increase is the number of births over deaths. Net migration accounts for 88 percent of Florida's population growth. The map indicating natural increase between 1980 and 1990 shows several counties with high percentages of the aged, such as Pinellas, Sarasota, and Charlotte, as well as three counties north of Pinellas County, where more people die each year than are born. Counties with high natural increases have small shares of aged in their populations, including Dade County (Miami), previously noted for its large number of retirees, but now a youthful county.
The pattern of migration into Florida since 1960 shows clearly the growing attraction of the Gulf Coast and the more northerly GoldÊCoast counties for in-migrants. Following the Cuban Revolution of 1959 Dade County became the destination of many Cuban exiles. Later other Hispanics from throughout the Caribbean arrived in south Florida. Dade County began to attract fewer in-migrants from elsewhere in the United States, and some non-Hispanic residents moved to other Florida counties. The counties around Orange (Orlando) have also attracted in-migrants, largely because of the opening of Disney World and other theme parks in the area. Although north Florida no longer experiences the degree of out-migration it did in previous decades, it is still among the slowest growing parts of the state.
